Afghanistan
Distance-Learning Initiatives Planned
Afghan broadcasting authorities have reserved a radio FM and television frequency for Education Radio and Television, reports a United Nations press release of May 31. The concession was facilitated by UNESCO in the framework of a US$2.5 million project funded by Italy for upgrading and improving distance-learning services in Afghanistan. The Educational Radio and Television Center, housed in the Afghan Education Ministry, has recently been renovated and equipped with computers and Internet connections.
— RFE/RL [1]
June 1, 2005
Australia
Overseas Ventures Causing Strain at Home
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the overseas branch campuses and franchised programs of many Australian universities are hurting academic reputations, financial bottom lines, and student resources at home.
There are also questions about whether universities can keep teaching and marking standards as high for an estimated 1,500 overseas programs as they do at home campuses. The findings of the article are based on interviews with a number of education analysts and consultants, who cite factors such as the failure of institutions to report revenue and expenses from overseas programs and the low fees charged abroad.
Gerard Sutton, vice president of the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee, debunked these findings, however, stating that offshore programs “overwhelmingly produce positive returns.”
— Sydney Morning Herald [2]
May 10, 2005
Carnegie Mellon Set to Open
The Australian branch of Carnegie Mellon University [3] will open next year in Adelaide with an expected intake of 75 master’s students in public administration and information technology for its inaugural semester.
The South Australia state government will spend up to US$15 million over four years to support the initiative after its July 2005 opening. The university is expected to attract hundreds of Asian graduate students. Current agreements between Carnegie Mellon executives and South Australian politicians allow for expansion of the institution beyond an initial focus on public administration into areas of software engineering in defense applications.
— The Australian [4]
May 17, 2005
China
British Operators to Face Quality Audit
A third of all UK higher-education institutions have a partnership “of some kind” to deliver British degrees in China, according to quality-control agencies. Concerned by the rush to move into the Chinese market, inspectors have announced plans to review the standard of British degrees being offered in China.
The British Council [5] estimates that about 50,000 Chinese students travel to Britain to study each year, with some 32,000 enrolled in higher-education programs. Institutions fear, however, that growth in enrollments at UK-based institutions is drying up in an increasingly competitive market. Therefore, more universities are choosing to set up programs in China to better tap into the market.
In a circular sent to university heads in March, the Quality Assurance Agency [6] (QAA), which is responsible for monitoring quality standards at universities in the United Kingdom, said it will send teams of auditors to China next year to “provide assurance that UK higher-education institutions are managing this rapidly developing situation effectively.” Five years ago, after its first visit to China, the QAA issued a statement warning of the “bad apple effect.”
— The Times Higher Education Supplement [7]
March 11, 2005
Collaboration Between Hong Kong and Mainland Leads to Establishment of New College
The Chinese Ministry of Education [8] formally approved in early April the establishment of a new institution of higher education in Zhuhai, a special economic zone in mainland China bordering Hong Kong. The new institution comes as a result of cooperation between Hong Kong Baptist University [9] and Beijing Normal University [10] and is to be known as the United International College (UIC).
The People’s Daily newspaper describes the venture as “the first large-scale collaborative project of its kind between the mainland and the Hong Kong higher-education sectors.” UIC will offer five undergraduate programs starting in September: environmental science, computer science and technology, statistics and operations research, finance and applied economics. Graduates will be awarded degrees conferred by Hong Kong Baptist University.
— People’s Daily [11]
April 22, 2005
Beijing/Hong Kong Decision Has Implications for International Education Market
As China continues to develop its capacity to educate an increasing number of its tertiary-level students, Beijing recently decided to ease restrictions on mainland students wishing to study at universities in Hong Kong. The decision may well have implications for universities in countries that increasingly rely on tuition fees paid by students from China, such as Australia, Britain, the United States and New Zealand. The news will add to concern in these countries that the export education market may have peaked in 2004.
The Beijing Ministry of Education [8] gave permission for Hong Kong’s eight universities to use the national universities admission system to attract students. At least 7 million Chinese are allocated places in mainland colleges and universities through the system. Hong Kong universities will be able to recruit students from 17 provinces and cities this year, giving them access to a potential pool of millions. Scholarships will be offered to at least 75 mainland students at each university.
— The Times Higher Education Supplement [7]
April 8, 2005
2004 Figures Reveal Huge Increase in Overseas Student Numbers
There was a 43 percent year-on-year increase in the number of overseas students at Chinese institutions of higher education in 2004.
Sources from the Ministry of Education [8] revealed to the state-run Xinhua news agency that 110,844 foreign students from 178 different countries attended class at one of 420 Chinese colleges and universities nationwide. Of that figure, 6,715 were sponsored by the Chinese government. For the fifth year in succession, students from South Korea represented the single largest body of overseas students.
— Xinhua [12]
May 24, 2005
India
Indian Students Increasingly Targeted by Education Exporting Countries
More than 800,000 Indian students are expected to study abroad in 20 years, and the big education exporters such as Britain, the European Union (EU), Australia and the United States are all jostling for a slice of the market.
Officials from the India office of IDP, which markets Australian universities abroad, expect 10 percent of the predicted 800,000 Indians to come to Australia. To encourage this migration, IDP country director Henry Ledlie said recently that his country’s universities should be looking to establish campuses in India, as current capacity in Australia might not be able to handle the extra 60,000 students. According to Australian Department of Education [13] figures for 2004, there were 20,749 Indian students studying in Australia, with 17,870 enrolled in the higher-education sector, 45 percent more than in 2003.
In the United States, figures from the Institute of International Education [14] show that 79,736 Indian students were studying in the United States in 2003/2004, an increase of 6.9 percent over the previous year, while British government figures peg the number of Indian students studying in the United Kingdom at 15,000.
The EU is getting in on the act and recently announced that 900 Indian graduate students will be offered Erasmus Mundus scholarships. Erasmus Mundus is a new initiative designed to attract the best and brightest graduate students from outside the EU to study at its universities. Indian students will be the single largest group of recipients of EU money, with scholarships worth a total of 33 million euros on offer. China is second with 9 million euros in scholarship money.
— The Australian [15]
May 11, 2005
— Erasmus Mundus figures
— Australia Education International statistics
Japan
US Branch Campus to Close
Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s (SIUC) branch campus in Nakajo, Japan, will close at the end of the 2005-2006 school year. Now in its 17th year, the Nakajo branch campus, in the Niigata prefecture on Japan’s western coast, was one of 36 opened by American universities in the late 1980s. After the closure of the Nakajo campus, the only US campus still operating in Japan will be the recently recognized Temple University (see March/April issue of WENR [16]).
The Pacific School Entity (PSE) is the Japanese organization that contracts with SIUC for academic programs and student services. Japanese officials at PSE made the decision to terminate the program because of low enrollment figures. Enrollments have dropped from a peak of 630 students in 1990 to the current level of 50. Over the past 17 years approximately 2,200 Japanese students studied at the Nakajo campus, with more than 900 transferring to the Carbondale campus to complete their undergraduate programs.
— SIUC news release [17]
March 18, 2005
Malaysia
Malaysian Government Contracts Foreign University Consortium
The Malaysian government has signed a six-year contract with a consortium of five foreign universities to prepare upward of 625 prospective English-language teachers. Malaysia is rapidly expanding the teaching of English in its schools. A recent government initiative requires all high school mathematics and science classes to be taught in English.
Two Australian universities, as well as two from New Zealand and one from Britain, were selected by the Malaysian Ministry of Education [18] for the project, which is expected to run until 2011. Macquarie University [19] in Sydney and the Queensland University of Technology [20] in Brisbane are among the five that have twinning arrangements with Malaysia’s International Languages Teacher Training Institute in Kuala Lumpur. The others are the universities of Auckland [21] and Victoria [22] in New Zealand and the College of St. Mark and St. John [23] at the University of Exeter [24] in England.
Those in the training program will first be required to undertake an 18-month foundation program at their home institutions. Students then enroll in the first year of the course at the Kuala Lumpur institute, followed by two years at one of the overseas partner universities. The final year of the program is conducted in Malaysia and consists mainly of in-school practical training. Academics at the five foreign universities oversee the curriculum, quality assurance and assessment. Students will graduate with a bachelor of education degree (ESL or ESOL) issued by the foreign university where they studied.
— South China Morning Post [25]
February 26, 2005
New Zealand
International Enrollments Down but Earnings Strong
Latest enrollment figures from the Education Ministry [26] show there were 112,672 foreign students enrolled at institutions of education in New Zealand in July 2004 — a slight drop from the 115,197 enrolled in 2003.
Primary and secondary schools suffered the most, with a 12.5 percent drop. However, the number of foreign fee-paying students attending universities and other tertiary institutions grew by 11 percent, and the average tuition fee increased by nearly NZ$1,000 (US$720). The drop in total student figures was in large part due to a fall in the number of Chinese students enrolling in English-language programs, according to Education New Zealand [27], a non-profit trust responsible for promoting the nation’s education export industry. The trust issued additional figures that showed that international students accounted for NZ$2.19 billion (US$1.54 billion) in earnings in 2004, compared with NZ$2.21 billion in 2003.
— Stuff [2]
April13, 2005
Cooperation Pact Signed with India as NZ Looks to Deepen Export Market
The governments of New Zealand and India signed an Education Cooperation Arrangement in April aimed at increasing educational collaboration between the two countries, including increased academic and student exchanges and the encouragement of twinning arrangements between institutions.
In a speech made after the signing of the agreement, New Zealand’s Minister of Education Trevor Mallard was quick to point out the opportunities that existed in the Indian market for New Zealand’s education export sector, while also noting recent initiatives implemented by his government designed to attract overseas students. These initiatives include the lowering of costs for “top quality” international doctoral students, whereby they will be granted domestic student status and will no longer be charged premium-rate tuition fees. In addition, New Zealand last year began offering postgraduate research scholarships, which in 2006 will be offered to 40 students. The minister also pointed out that visa policies are being amended to give students work opportunities during and after their degree programs, while any dependent children will be treated the same as domestic students in the public school system.
Mr. Mallard concluded his remarks by stating that he would like to see the number of Indian students studying at his country’s institutions of education continue to increase. In 2000, there were just 251 Indian students studying in New Zealand, compared with 2,405 last year and a current figure of 2,567. The minister’s visit marks the first-ever education mission by the government of New Zealand to India.
— The Economic Times [28]
April 18, 2005
Philippines
Resigned Chair of Education Commission Slams Government Inaction over Sub-Standard Nursing Schools
The former chairman of the government’s Commission on Higher Education [29] (CHEd) resigned his post in May after failing to get the support of the legislature to reform standards at nursing schools in the country. Standards are widely believed to have slipped dramatically over the last five years as the number of nursing programs proliferated to meet the high demand for Filipino nurses abroad. Many of the new nursing programs were being operated by computer-training institutes and for-profit education franchises, which often lacked proper clinical facilities and qualified professors.
Rev. Rolando V. de la Rosa, who resigned after just seven months as CHEd chair, said political interference had stopped the closure of a nursing school belonging to the AMA computer school, while members of Congress had pressured CHEd to rescind the closure of 23 other nursing schools nationwide. According to reports in the Manila Bulletin, last year the commission’s recommendations for college closures had received the full support of President Gloria Arroyo (see Sept/Oct 2004 issue of WENR [30]), who had gone as far as labeling the schools “diploma mills.” In an interview with the Manila-based Inquirer News Service, de la Rosa confirmed that he had received the backing of the President, but “was lacking support from lawmakers,” because of “excessive political intervention” in the decision-making process at CHEd.
Shortly after his appointment as CHEd chair, de la Rosa launched a campaign against “fly-by-night” schools and other schools with low passing rates in the professional board exams, specifically for nursing. He feared that the high number of nursing schools was destroying the reputation of the Philippines as a producer of world-class nurses, adding that the woeful quality of nursing education was evident in the decline of the national passing rate in the nursing board examination — from around 80 percent 10 years ago to 49 percent today.
He said the CHEd campaign for quality nursing education had received the support of the Association of Deans of Philippine Colleges of Nursing, National League of Nursing Service Administrators of the Philippines, Philippine Nurses Association and the Board of Nursing Education. Despite CHEd’s order for all 23 nursing programs to cease operations, there is apparently no evidence that any of the programs have closed.
— Inquirer News Service [31]
May 10, 2005
Singapore
U.S. For-Profit Buys Business School
The higher-education company Kaplan Inc. [32] announced the purchase of the Asia Pacific Management Institute [33] (APMI) in May and plans to open a new campus in Singapore to offer professional and postgraduate education through APMI.
APMI currently offers courses for 2,600 undergraduates, graduates and business executives in Singapore and Hong Kong. With the opening of its new campus, Kaplan hopes to double that enrollment. The institute provides courses through affiliations with Anglophone colleges and universities such as the University of South Australia [34], National University of Ireland [35] and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale [36].
Kaplan, best known for its test preparation courses, already has operations in Asia. They are located in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore and operate through the British-based Financial Training Company [37], which offers test-preparation courses in accounting and financial services. Kaplan currently runs 75 campuses in 18 US states, as well as test preparation centers in 18 countries. It also owns online Concord Law School [38].
— TODAY [39]
May 18, 2005
South Korea
Legal education Set for Reform
Legal education is set for a radical shake-up after a Supreme Court decision late last year announced that a U.S.-style postgraduate law-school system would be in place by 2008. More recently, the Judicial Reform Committee — charged with overseeing the transition — announced that the number of law students will be limited to 150 per school (at eight to 10 schools), while 20 percent of professors will be required to have at least five years’ professional experience.
The Supreme Court committee also said it will draft a final law-school bill ready for passage through the National Assembly by the end of the year. The bill will include a plan to replace by 2013 the present judicial examinations with an American-style bar examination, which only law school graduates would be allowed to take. Universities are, however, mounting fierce opposition to the committee’s measures, most fervently over the stipulation that a fifth of the academic roster must include legal professionals, suggesting the reforms might not pass as smoothly as the committee might like. Other concerns voiced by academia center on enrollment quotas, believed to have been set too low, quality assurance measures and the selection procedures for the eight to 10 new law schools.
The proposed reforms come after many years of discussion and long-term criticism of current legal education because of the intense competition among undergraduate law students and a perceived authoritarianism of legal experts. Under the American law-school system, students would pursue various majors in college before applying for law school, in an effort to prevent unnecessary early competition and to give students a broader education.
— The Korea Herald [40]
April 22, 2005